Moments in Time
by Mydnyte Houre
Summary: A mildly-AU series of short scenes, centering on Auron and Lulu's developing romance. Filled with violently purple prose and heavily emotional. Read and review! Chapter 6 finally up; may not be suitable for all ages. DISCONTINUED.
1. Beautiful Boy: Lulu

**Moments in Time **by Mydnyte Houre

This will be an 18-part (as of now) series of short scenes involving Auron and Lulu. Given the pairing, it's obviously AU, and it's really only the characters that tie in with the actual gameplay. Most of the scenes will be based heavily on emotion and thought, not dialogue, but they're not entirely abstract. The plot will rarely match up with actual events of the game, but events and settings are unnecessary for what I hope to convey.

Here's the fun part: I'm a songwriter, and I'm going to use one of my original songs as the basis for each chapter. I'll make a selection of the lyrics available at the end of each, but the full songs are available on my FictionPress page (Red Rose Drowning). They merely provide a general focus for the elements of each scene. The chapters will alternate between Lulu's and Auron's POVs, but all will be in third person.

The rating is officially 'T,' for mild language and some sexual themes. One chapter will likely be rated 'M,' but I will give you plenty of warning and the plot will still make sense if you choose to skip that scene. Finally, I promise I won't have another big note like this until said chapter.

All characters and related events, descriptions, etc. are the property of Final Fantasy, but it should go without saying that all lyrics are mine and may not be used without permission.

* * *

**Beautiful Boy**

Captivation.

It was a feeling that caught her by surprise. Even in her youth, she had only experienced attraction, temptation at best. Chappu had charmed her, but she had never felt the inexplicable magnetism towards him that this man seemed to wield as effortlessly as the sword on his shoulder. He fascinated her beyond words, with a force that seemed to bore a path through her eyes into the depths of her soul. Her chest was flooded with infatuation, drowning every heartbeat with a stronger pulse that threatened to overwhelm her. Anyone who cared to look at her would have seen it in an instant, but all eyes were fastened on him.

He had happened upon them by chance, it seemed, but Lulu had ceased to trust in the accidental nature of fate. She felt awed by his presence, overcome by a rare moment of intimidation. His face was carved of stone, his flesh marred by the crevices and scars of a thousand battles. It was his eyes that drew her gaze. Hidden behind glasses that revealed only her own reflection, they seemed to defy reality; they held every colour and yet none, they roved over the scene and yet stood frozen. The right eye was forced shut, slit by a hard grey line of scar tissue that slashed down past the high collar that concealed his cheek.

He seemed so impenetrable. His entire being was a mask of cryptic words and inscrutable sighs. Lulu suddenly felt that her position of the cold, emotionless guardian was being usurped, but she was powerless against that most legendary of legends. Auron was a fortress, protected from within by quiet fury and guarded on the surface by his scathing blade. She wanted to pry into the recesses of his consciousness. She wanted to shroud herself in his past, entangle herself within the smoky lines of his memory, and fade into the darkest corners of his memory.

Lulu slipped away to the back of the group, fearful that her emotions might escape the cage she had spent years building. Her fascination with Auron seemed to stretch through the air to where he stood, and as she glanced over her shoulder, his eye fastened on her. One enigmatic orb slid into place as though it had locked into some secret keyhole in her spirit that she had never been aware of. Amethyst lips parted and closed again. She did not move. She could not breathe. Her heart seemed to leap into her throat and pause there, letting her pulse shudder to a halt as her veins ceased to flow. His gaze held her in his grip, and she suddenly realized that he was breathtakingly beautiful.

_Sir Auron. It is truly an honour._

_Please, I wish no honour. I only wish to fulfill my promise to Braska._

But he was isolated, an island of strength that refused to be infiltrated. She had no hope of captivating him the same way he had captivated her.

* * *

"Beautiful boy  
Tell me your name  
I'm in love  
Oh yeah  
With a boy I just met on the street  
In the dark  
Oh yeah, oh yeah

Where are you going?  
Beautiful boy,  
Where are you going?

Where are you now?  
Beautiful boy,  
What are you doing tonight?"


	2. Do You Know: Auron

**Do You Know**

Sunrise, then sunset. Chilling rain, then searing heat. Lulu could have engulfed herself in flames and still had an invisible layer of ice across her skin. Porcelain, he imagined, or ivory, yet she was never as delicate as she appeared.

She was mystery personified. Auron had noticed her the moment they met. She had caught his eye as someone different, a sharp contrast against the forced joy of the rest of the group. She was aware of their fate, but not resigned, and her cold demeanor intrigued him. She never awarded him the same blatant deference that the others did. Her apparent nonchalance piqued his curiosity; the clarity with which she observed him was astounding. Her ruby eyes forced their way past the legend to pierce the very core of the man within. She was enchanting, but the extent of her enchantment seemed to remain beyond her comprehension. He longed to pull her from her oblivion and humanize himself in her eyes. Like him, her emotions were hidden deep beneath the surface, and while she sought to understand him, she had yet to find the window into his mind. Auron, against all reason, was consumed with a strange desire for her to sense his lifelessness, feel the breath in his throat that did not sustain him.

Lulu fascinated him. He was not prone to distraction, but his dedication to the task at hand threatened to waver. The silky ribbons of black hair that trailed down her back and twisted in the wind caught his attention in an iron grip. She turned around, braids whipping over her shoulder, and her eyes burned with a fire that he feared was not for him.

He had never been held captive by anyone the way she held him. Even in life, his emotions had been obscure and untouchable. They were hidden no deeper now that he was balanced on the thin wire separating him from the Farplane; if anything, he felt uncharacteristically vulnerable. Auron was unnerved, but not unpleasantly so.

_ It seems the black mage never strays from her duty._

_ I have never had cause to stray._

_ Thus your life becomes your summoner's._

Auron would not sacrifice the safety of Braska's daughter for any price, and neither would Lulu. But the thoughts wandered through the darkness of his mind like slow stars. He wanted her to know how often her face appeared among those stars. He wished she could catch him by surprise when her name was hovering on his lips. He needed her to realize that he was in danger of being consumed.

_ Sir Auron? You seem tired. Let me take the first watch._

She had touched his shoulder, unwittingly sending electric ice through his skin. Her eyes seemed to send none of the secret messages he was praying for, but for a moment he thought he glimpsed a smile hidden in the crimson glimmer.

_ Lulu..._

He could take the plunge. If she could only see him, see him completely, it would be well worth the risk.

* * *

"Would you take the chance  
Even if I don't seem real?  
I'm always going  
Somewhere you can't follow

And if you look through your doorway  
And stand in just the right place

Standing outside in the rain  
Staring at you through the shades  
Do you know how much I  
Want to know the way your  
Arms would feel around me?  
Can you see me?"


	3. All Alone Now: Lulu

**All Alone Now**

Lulu's eyes, though they shone brightly, were thinly veiled by a sadness that burned like a slow candle. Every battle she fought, every scene she encountered, was tainted by the lingering memory of the love she had lost. Every breath she drew was a stab of guilt, a reminder that she had survived and Chappu had not. The cold, empty bed she lay in each night was the sentence she had set herself; learning not to betray her strict countenance with tears was her silent penance.

Her solitude was impenetrable and self-imposed. She had cast her heart away, forsaking the weakness of a resurrection. Each time she was tempted to rejoin the realm of the truly living, she tightened the chains that bound her emotions and braced herself for the pain.

But lately, it had grown harder and harder to twist the chains. Auron threatened to rescue her, to unwittingly pull her from the depths of the black pit over which she dangled. Her saviour was dangerously close. She had trained her mind to avoid thoughts of love or lust, but he was on the verge of breaking the barrier.

_What keeps you up at night, Lulu?_

_Nothing._

_Dreams?_

_Waking nightmares, _she longed to correct. But she could barely admit to herself that the raindrops in her soul burned like acid; she could certainly not admit it him. Each time her thoughts drifted to his eyes, his hair, his lips, she chastised herself mercilessly. Lulu felt lost, adrift without hope. Perhaps it was Auron's seeming ability to endure with no hope in sight that endeared him to her, but she was torn. She had grown so dependent on her pain to shape her character that misery had become her addiction, but when Auron was by her side, the withdrawal did not seem so harsh.

She had seen the sidelong glances that came her way when his guard was down. He felt some spark between them, that much was certain, but was it enough? Would he find her before she had fallen far beyond his reach, or would she sink?

The tension between them became tangible. She felt skeletal fingers stealing up her back, tracing the line of her collarbone before seizing her throat.

_You're always so restless when you guard at night._

_Is that why you think I can't sleep?_

Even the slightest breath would have betrayed her. Guarding her emotions had ceased to become an automatic response for her; controlling herself took every ounce of concentration in her body. Lulu felt electricity crackling at her fingertips; the raw sensitivity of the atmosphere was beginning to lick at her burning skin. She was standing in the eye of a raging storm, a swirling torrent of waves building around her body, and she knew that the waves could break through her protective shell and engulf her in a second.

_Sir Auron_…

_There is no need for fancy titles among fellows._

_Auron._

The name felt like a foreign object caught beneath her tongue, bittersweet with the lingering taste of sugar-coated poison.

_You were about to say something._

She was about to plunge into something deeper and darker than any fiend she had yet encountered.

_I was about to say, Auron, that I've been alone for a long time. No one has ever noticed if I'm restless, so why do you care?_

His characteristic silence was his only response. The pool of lightening in the palm of her hand flared, and then faded. Lulu's gaze locked onto his glasses, and she smiled at her own reflection as Auron smiled back.

* * *

"Every night  
She writes a song for you  
Every day she burns the page  
Locks herself inside a cage  
All alone now

She is waiting  
Caught between the window and the door  
Will you save her?  
From her lonely bed on the factory floor

She took a bath in the limelight of the rain  
Fell asleep on the factory floor  
Did she have trouble washing out the stain?  
Does she know how to breathe anymore?"

* * *

Thanks to everyone for the reviews, and especially Helluin for the constructive criticism. I'd love for anyone who puts my story on Favourite or Alert to also leave a review, because they really do inspire me to write a little faster when I know people genuinely want an update. Thanks again!


	4. Dark Star: Auron

**Dark Star**

She had ceased to be an enigma. Her shameless smile had presented him with a challenge, and Auron had brazenly accepted.

The stars closed their eyes in elegant discretion, offering them the graceful seclusion of the universe. Her fingertips grazed his bare arm, halting a nonexistent pulse, and the earth slowed in its revolution as her touch breathed into his veins. Thirsting for emotions that had long since abandoned him, he let her pain soak through his skin and cool the agonizing fire at his core.

_You've seen more than a woman your age should._

_Would I be as strong as I am today if I hadn't? Would you be as strong as you are without having learned the cruelty that governs existence?_

_Not all existence is cruelty._

_Don't patronize me._

He quickly learned that arousing Lulu's aggression was not wise when her eyes held domain over his body. His head pounded, thunder coursing through his skull.

_What can you hope to accomplish by hurting your fellow Guardian?_

_Respect. I am not one to be toyed with, Auron, nor am I one to be underestimated. If I seem lonely, if I seem restless, it is because I have earned the right._

Her voice was a silken whisper, woven of a hundred sighs and a thousand disappointments. Her words hovered in the night air and mingled with the pyreflies to circle in elegant spirals. His mind slowly wandered into the echoing realization that they had spoken more in the last two minutes than the rest of their journey.

_I don't want to hurt you, Lulu. If you think that you're a game to me, an amusing diversion from the sorrow of the task at hand, you are sorely and sadly mistaken._

For the first time, his hand closed over hers. The nerves in his fingers seemed to have been aching for an eternity to glimpse ivory skin, and the torturous release that surged through him was like the unexpected answer to a prayer that had long since been deserted.

_I don't want our imaginations to run away with this. Our only priority is protecting Yuna._

_I know. Distraction is not an option._

But even as he let the words fall from his lips, Auron knew he was lost. She had made him vulnerable; she had stripped him of all pretense, and he could only hope that distraction did not consume him. He knew he would have to be careful of her. Letting Lulu take control of the emotions he had kept so carefully secret was a disaster staggering on the brink.

_Will you?_

She paused in her query, silence hanging in the air.

_Will I what?_

She stared up at him, threads of black satin trailing down her cheek, her dark scarlet eyes filled with the question she had not asked. The silvery moonlight cast a haunting shadow across her mouth.

_Lulu, you're a dangerous woman._

_Are you saying you're afraid?_

He let his glasses slide down the bridge of his nose, giving her the glance of one stern eye. Weathered and calloused fingers slipped across her tender throat and under her chin, tilting her face upwards.

_I'm simply being perceptive._

_You're right. I am dangerous._

She was barely breathing. Her words danced across pools of starlight.

_Will you?_

She echoed her own words with a sudden softness that melted into the darkness surrounding them.

His eye traced the contours of her lips before grazing them with his own.

_I will_.

* * *

"Don't trust me for a second  
Don't even try to tame me  
Never turn your back on me  
Never close your eyes  
I'm gonna bring you down"

* * *

Aren't they cute? :) I hope this chapter came out OK, because I wrote it from 2:30-4:00 a.m. It's got more dialogue than usual, which will likely become even more prevalent in future scenes. It's also a little longer than past installments, but I was trying to get the transition from uncertainty to romance just right. I know the dialogue is fairly dripping with cheese, but I'm hoping it fits the scene. They're both stepping outside of themselves into new experiences that they'd closed themselves off from, and their words can be as uncharacteristic as the emotions they're feeling. PLEASE let me know what you think, because any constructive criticism on this chapter will be vital in the next one. Thanks!


	5. Taste the Sunrise: Lulu

**Taste the Sunrise**

Their moment had been just that, a moment, and then it had faded like a pyrefly into darkness.

Lulu had borne heavier secrets in her time, but none seemed to strike at her heart the way this did. Every step felt surreal, weightless. Her soul alternated between peace and turmoil. One moment she was safely nestled in her mind, and the next she struggled with her own guilt. Every minute of her life seemed to have been building up to one moment with Auron; now that she had found it, what was next?

Everything seemed so unfamiliar. The world unfurled before her, rippling with new vivacity. The edges of her vision glimmered scarlet, and even the dull greys and blacks of the earth pulsed with colour. Lulu wanted desperately to breathe in this new existence and let it fill her lungs to bursting, but that inner struggle held her back. She feared it, feared it so deeply that she felt it following close behind every move she made. A shadow of doubt trailed her like a forgotten friend, tainting the vibrancy of everything around her.

They had shared a brief moment, so brief that it felt unreal. Lulu seemed to have dreamt it, yet she knew she couldn't have. She couldn't have invented the hazy delusion that had shattered her boundaries just long enough for Auron to find his way in.

_Will you regret it? Tomorrow morning, when the sun is up and the journey begins again, will you regret me?_

He had seized her wrist with such sudden force that the black leather had left welts on her skin.

_You can't actually think that I would do something I thought I might regret._

_I don't know. I've got no one to judge by. I've never met or heard of another woman you've kissed._

Lulu mouthed her uncharacteristically playful words again, echoing them soundlessly with soft lips that barely moved. _Kissed._ It felt heavy and experimental on her tongue, but she tested its unfamiliar shape and let herself say it aloud. His face was there instantly in her mind's eye, hovering just beyond the grasp of reality. The glint in his eye played across the web of her vision with its spidery, imaginary prowl. She closed her eyes to savour the few seconds she had with her apparition before it melted into a whisper.

Too soon the fire pulsed beneath her lids, warning her that her heart was not free. She opened her eyes and found him suddenly there, an apparition made flesh. She was embarrassed to be caught in a rare moment of weakness, and once more she was reminded that she still bore the chains of Chappu's ghost.

_Everything will be different now. For us. For everyone._

_Yes, but Auron… I don't think everyone should know…_

_No. But while they may not measure up to our standards, they are at least somewhat perceptive. Surely someone will notice._

His hand snaked through the air to brush the thin veil of lace separating their fingers. Lulu's throat tightened, her breath locked in her chest with ropes of flame. Once more, a wave of doubt reared within her, but he somehow seemed to sense its invisible presence. With one kiss, Auron burned the ache from the surface of her soul with a single, cauterizing touch. It was a stolen kiss, as all of them were, plundered in the invisible night that seemed to grace their solitude. It was heavy, and yet she could barely feel it.

_I don't know how far you're willing to take this. I won't let you trifle with me._

_I could never. I am willing… I am longing to feel truth from one human being. You've given me a taste of something I thought impossible._

_I thought I'd lost it forever._

She let her body slide closer to his, ebony and crimson flowing together into one river. No, she had not lost it forever, though she'd spent years trying to convince herself otherwise. She had merely misplaced it, letting trauma wipe away the memory until she was ready.

And Auron had made her ready.

* * *

"There was a moment  
Between the twilight and the dawn  
We danced together  
We stayed out just a little too long

I need to hear you  
I need to feel the way you breathe  
There's something happening  
Our eyes are just beginning to see"


	6. Black Surrender: Auron

**Black Surrender**

**

* * *

**

She made him feel like he was dying all over again, like he was once more dangling by a thread in death's grip.

Auron had seen her in the doorway of his tent, framed by a burst of lightening in the violet sky behind her. She had stepped towards him in silence and laid a fingertip on the candle at his bedside. Shadows sprang up across the curves of her face as the flame leapt to life beneath her touch. At first, the shadows seemed to widen and envelop her braids, but then he realized that her hair fell in loose, wraithlike waves to her knees. In the orange glow that was cast across her skin, her pale shoulders looked softer than the fur that lined them.

_What are you doing here?_

_I wanted you._

Her bold tone startled him. Lulu leaned forward provocatively, her eyes glittering, and let the curtain of hair drape itself across his knees. He brushed it aside and glanced up at her briefly before pulling her down within reach of his lips. Almost instantly, he felt himself melt into the curiously combined sensation of apprehension and desire. Lulu's kiss was searching, fiercely inquisitive with a hint of fury. Auron forced himself to pull away.

_You want to remember me? Or you want to forget something else?_

She locked burning scarlet eyes onto the single orb that gleamed like a beacon in his war torn face.

_I want to remember you for the rest of my life._

He kissed her again, and she slipped onto the bed beside him, her hip pressing into his knee.

_Auron..._

Her teeth sank into his lip, haltingly at first, then stronger when they encountered no protest. He leaned back and she pushed her body against his. Her tongue darted in and out of his mouth as he struggled vainly for dominance. His apprehension was overpowered by the sheer force of wanting her, wanting to feel the devilish way that she controlled him. Auron was not accustomed to submission, but as she bit her way towards the tender skin at the base of his neck, he knew he was at her mercy.

Her fingers were warm against his skin as she worked through his belts, but he shivered at the rough scrape of her teeth against barely existing flesh. He took hold of her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. She held his gaze as slowly, finger by finger, she removed his gloves. He searched her eyes for something he could not name, and the sheer audacity of what they were doing suddenly pierced his consciousness.

_Lulu... we must—_

She tugged his face away from hers by the thin grey trail of hair that brushed the top of his spine, and the sharp pain caused his words to die in his throat. Her other hand slid up his ruined cheek to rest questioningly on his glasses, and for a moment, he wants nothing more than to lay bare his tarnished eye and twisted soul.

But something stalled him, and he gave her a warning, halved glare. Lulu let them stay on and fell to him, twisting her legs around his waist. The hint of anger had spread like wildfire from her kiss to her hands. She released his hair only to wrap tendrils around his throat, tendrils that Auron somehow did not immediately register as fingers. She pressed into his shoulder, her nails gouging at forgotten scars until they bled afresh.

Since his return from the precipice of death, he had not bruised as easily as he had in life. But one glance at his skin, now red and deepening to purple, and he breathed the words he had already uttered once before.

_You're a dangerous woman._

Lulu was silent, but there was a new glint of success in her eyes as her tongue traced across his bare chest. He had never seen her with such a hunger for power. She slid his coat from his shoulders and lifted the black shirt over his head. Her lips delved into the vulnerable hollow at the center of his chest. She planted teasing kisses down his stomach, giving him a sharp bite at his waistline. His hand found a piece of her hair and followed it to grasp at the back of her skull.

Instantly her fingers were back at his neck, dancing intricately where his pulse should have been. The threat of suffocation was almost welcome distraction from her serpentine ministrations. When her lips were forging a path down untouched skin, Auron was far beyond rational thought.

He twisted her on the bed so that she faced away from him and pulled his hands behind her, placing them on the tight knot at the bottom edge of her corset. False breath caught in his throat as his fingers strummed across the laces binding her body. She leaned back, ruby eyes half-closed, porcelain chest rising and falling like the deceptive swells of the ocean tide.

_What are you doing?_

He had almost expected her to be all coyness and gentle sarcasm, but he should have known that she was no blushing, giggling girl. Her voice was husky; the dark purple of the sky outside poured from her lips. She spoke wordlessly of nighttime and darkness, and a flash of too-human lust coursed through his body. He bent his head to hers from behind and nipped softly at her ear. His teeth seemed to move free of his control, frenzied and uncharacteristically playful.

_You're wearing too much, Lulu._

He felt her shudder in his arms as he began to twist nimble fingers through the tangle of laces on her corset. He searched through the web and found the knot at the very core, working the strings like wisps of wind. His breath spilled over the back of her neck, suddenly exposed like a pristine morning snowfall without her curtain of hair, and he wondered if she knew the lie behind its illusory warm currents. Auron closed his one good eye and traced the rough pads of his fingers over her bodice, finally freeing the knot. He hooked his thumb at the bottom and gently loosened the laces. She let out a gasping breath as the rigid restraints slipped from her body and hung, dangling on a precipice that mirrored Auron's agony, a mere centimeter from her trembling skin.

_I will always be glad, sir, that you are my fellow Guardian, and not my enemy._

_And why is that?_

_Because you are the only one that I can admit has robbed me of my control._

Auron pressed a chiding hand on her shoulder in amusement. In a moment, however, he let his palm slide down the softly glowing arm to push the corset from her body. He inhaled sharply at the sight of her breasts, pale and smooth and unprotected, shockingly pink buds standing at lewd attention.

_You… put all of Spira to shame._

Lulu laughed in surprise, bright lips full and open. Auron offered a rare half-smile in return and put a finger to her mouth. She pursed her lips in a kiss and darted her tongue out to lick shamelessly at the digit, teasing him back into her sphere of control. He bit her shoulder in reply.

_This role reversal is not to my taste. You should know that I prefer to be in control._

_You should know that I prefer to defy you._

_You play a dangerous game, Lulu._

_Every game takes two to play._

She gasped as his hand suddenly plunged into the warm valley between her breasts. He forged new paths along the tenderly thin skin just below her chest, playing silent melodies with his waltzing fingertips across her taut stomach. She lay in his lap, surrounded by warmth and candlelight and the essence that he knew secretly carried the scent of the Farplane. The shadows of the candle danced across the ceiling of the tent like impish stars.

Lulu suddenly sat straight up and twisted to face him.

_Enough, Auron. You tease._

_As did you, a few minutes ago._

_That was when I had restraint._

She kissed him fiercely, teeth bared, an animal ready to strike. Auron met her ferocity with equal abandon, pushing his tongue into the warm cave of her mouth. His hands slid up her smooth legs and found the top of her fishnets, trapped under a web of interlocking belts. Smiling against her lips, he pulled away and gently slipped from the bed onto the floor. Lulu frowned and turned to face him, swinging her legs gracefully over the side of the bed. Auron knelt before her, gazing up at her with one salacious eye over the top of his glasses.

_Beautiful lady mage, allow me the honour of undressing you._

Lulu licked her lips and ran a finger down the side of his face. Cruel magic flowed from her fingertip, leaving an invisible trail of ice on his cheek. He shivered and pulled her hand to his lips, then kissed it before letting it fall.

Auron began at her ankles, undoing each buckle and lock with inhuman patience. He unfastened each bond slowly, a practiced hunter pursuing his elusive prey. Each belt gave a gentle death rattle as it clicked open. Lulu sighed appreciatively as his fingers moved up her legs to her knees, gripping the bed sheet with white knuckles as his tongue followed suit. He glanced up, and with a single enticing look dared her to stop him. Lulu gave no protest, but merely leaned back and gasped for breath, her chest rising and falling as she writhed wantonly on the bed. Auron pressed a kiss to the inside of her knee and continued on his seductive path. As his hands roved across her moonlight thighs, breaking barriers and freeing chains, he felt her skin burn with a warmth that came from no magic. He brought his teeth to the last belt buckle and slid it free, the bitter salt of leather staining his tongue. He closed his good eye and breathed deeply as Lulu's unique, heady scent invaded his mind.

With the belts out of the way, Auron pushed her skirt carefully down her legs. She slithered up to the pillow, a swan skimming a dark pond, and beckoned him towards her. He climbed back onto the bed, effortlessly sliding off his trousers, and lay above her, supporting himself with hands firmly planted on either side of her chest. Her darkened eyes raked up and down his body, finally settling on his glasses. Auron gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod; Lulu moved a slow, dreamlike hand to his glasses and slipped them off.

Like a wave crashing, relieved and explosive, on a long-forgotten shore, they met and fused in one volatile, fiery collision.

* * *

_~My fiercely beating heart~  
~Is cradled in your hands~  
~I'm hanging onto every word you say~  
~I'm hanging onto every move you make~_

_~It's dark scarlet torture when you touch me~  
~I'm drinking sin by looking in your eyes~  
~It's useless to elude this black surrender~  
~These chains can never break before the sunrise~_

_

* * *

  
_

-(Well, there are at least four things that make me feel a bit sheepish in presenting this to you... One, it's been a year since I updated this. I felt uninspired for a long time, but my boyfriend found the cure--play the game again! So hopefully, you're all still interested. Two, it's a lot longer than any of the other chapters. I just felt that this was an absolutely pivotal moment in their relationship, and I didn't want to condense it. Three, it's a hell of a lot less purple and abstract than previous installments, especially in the second half. The real reason for this is that I wrote the first half a year ago; my better reason is that unintelligibly flowery and erotic rarely make a good combination. Four, you don't get to see anything too graphic in here. I'm frankly not really comfortable writing my own graphic sex scenes, although I have no objection to reading well-written ones; so, you should be aware that this is the furthest you'll get to see them go. But I hope you understood what happened at the end of this chapter ;)

Anyway, hopefully this is to your liking, and hopefully you're still interested in reading after a year's hiatus. I'm going to try to be more regular about updating this. Reviews would be hugely appreciated since it's been so long, and since this is so different. Thanks for reading!)-

-(Click the button!)-


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